Dominant start

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UNM's Aisia Robertson (15) takes the ball to the basket against Air Force's Riley Snyder on Wednesday night during New Mexico's victory in the MWC season opener in the Pit. JIM THOMPSON/JOURNAL

The new year started much like 2018 ended for the UNM women's basketball team – with a win.

Despite looking a bit rusty on offense, the Lobos started Mountain West Conference play with a convincing 78-57 victory over Air Force at Dreamstyle Arena on Wednesday night. UNM (11-1, 1-0) extended its winning streak to 10 games on the strength of a defense that came up with 19 steals, forced 30 turnovers and registered nine blocks.

"Defensively we were good," Lobo coach Mike Bradbury said. "Air Force is a hard team to guard. They run a ton of different sets and they're well-coached and physical. We had a few breakdowns but overall I thought we did a nice job following the plan."

Jayla Everett paced UNM's offense with 19 points, nearly all of them scored on drives to the basket. Aisia Robertson added 15 points, and Jaedyn De La Cerda chipped in 11 off the bench.

The Lobos, who had not played since Dec. 20, had some highlight-reel baskets but were erratic on the offensive end. UNM was just 2 for 15 from 3-point range and turned the ball over 19 times, with the majority of those giveaways unforced.

But an extended holiday break did not appear to hamper New Mexico's defense, which allowed fewer than 60 points for a seventh consecutive game.

"We spend a lot of time on defense in practice," guard Madi Washington said with a smile. "Our offense has been a little shaky at times but we know defense can carry us and we work really hard on it."

The Lobos also had to grind through some rough play and uneven officiating that had an announced crowd of 4,608 booing frequently in the second half. UNM's Nike McClure and Robertson picked up technical fouls – McClure's after it was determined she hit an Air Force player with an elbow, Robertson's for expressing her dissatisfaction with a call.

"It was really physical," said McClure, who finished with five points, 10 rebounds and three blocks. "Once we realized (the Falcons) were going to hit us as hard as they could on box-outs and (the officials) were not going to call it, we just decided to do the same thing. We can play that way if we need to."

Air Force (4-8, 0-1) got 15 points from Emily Conroe and 13 apiece from Kaelin Immel and Haley Jones. The Falcons trailed just 20-16 after one quarter but UNM used the first of two extended defensive surges to gain control.

Shai McGruder and Ahlise Hurst converted steals into breakaway layups, Everett scored on a coast-to-coast drive, and De La Cerda hit a 3-pointer during a 17-5 tear in the second quarter. UNM led 37-21 before Air Force made two field goals in the final 1:03 of the first half.

The Lobos then allowed just one AFA field goal in the first five minutes of the third quarter. Robertson's three-point play increased UNM's lead to 48-28, and the Falcons never got closer than a 12-point deficit the rest of the way.

"We were a little choppy on offense and didn't finish as well as we should've," Bradbury said. "There's definitely room for improvement on offense, but we are attacking the basket and I like the way we're playing defense. It's a good way to start conference."

Robertson (five) and De La Cerda (four) collected nine of UNM's steals, while McClure and Everett had three blocks apiece. The Lobos also got a solid contribution from McGruder, who had nine points, nine rebounds and two blocks in 19 minutes off the bench.